Connecting: New York-Prague-Seoul

An international celebration of the beauty and power of modern design opens in Prague on November 4, linking artists from three countries: the Czech Republic, the United States and the Republic of Korea. Their joint exhibition – Connecting: New York, Prague, Seoul – is devoted to bringing together disparate cultures in a world where meanings can be lost in translation, but the language of design is universal.The exhibition, which will be on display at the Czech Center Prague from November 5 to December 4, features the work of four world-class talents: Jiwon Shin, Founder and Executive Director of Firefly Branding, an international design and branding firm with offices in New York, Prague and Seoul; Rony Plesl, one of the Czech Republic’s foremost contemporary glass designers; the late Geri Taper, an American painter and environmental artist whose work has been displayed in New York, London and Paris; and Sooyeon Lee, Founder and Creative Director of Dank Design House in Seoul, Korea.The exhibition is being presented under the auspices of Mr. Gabriel Oh, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Czech Republic, the U.S. Embassy in Prague, and the Czech-Korean Society. Mr. Oh will be present at the November 4 vernissage to formally open the exhibition.  Connecting: New York, Prague, Seoul is the second in a three-part international dialogue that opened in Seoul in May. The opening segment, which featured the work of Jiwon Shin and Rony Plesl, was on display May 19 – June 20 at the newly opened Czech Info center, located in the medieval Old Town Hall building in the heart of Seoul. The third and final segment will be held in Czech Centre in New York in 2011.The Prague exhibition marks the first physical gathering of these artists under one roof. But they have been forging international links for years with collaborative projects and personal friendships.  “It’s so exciting to be showcasing these stellar talents under one roof,” Jiwon says. “The Seoul exhibition was a great success, and this one will be bigger and better and really great for Prague.”Firefly Branding’s motto is “Ideas take flight,” and Jiwon Shin personifies that philosophy. A Korean native with over 20 years of experience in graphic design, she studied at Ewha University in Seoul and Pratt University in New York. After working at several prominent companies where she helped create corporate identities for clients like Samsung, UPS, Nautica, and Marriott, Jiwon founded her own firm in New York City in 2004. Three years later she relocated to Prague, opening a second Firefly office and winning awards for her design and branding work, such as the Red Dot Award in Communication Design, for work done for Halada City. Early this year, Jiwon and her agency achieved truly global reach by opening Firefly in Seoul, Korea.   Rony Plesl, a rising star among the new generation of Czech glass designers, is known for the modern techniques he has brought to the traditional disciplines of glass-blowing and glass-cutting. He has done design work for brands such as Barovier and Toso, Salviati, Leonardo, Denizli, Sahm, Moser, Preciosa and Jablonex, and his unique cast glass sculptures, vases and objets d’art are found in various fine art collections. Working in collaboration with Jiwon, he recently created a special “Firefly Set” of traditional Korean Soju drinking glasses.Geri Taper dazzled audiences in the United States and Europe for 30 years with her abstract paintings, luminous renderings of flowers and trees, mixed-media work in bronze, aluminum and other metals, industrial sculptures and enamels. Her pieces are now part of wide-ranging collections and displays at such places as the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Citibank, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance and Mt. Sinai Hospital. Geri’s artistic philosophy – “I believe we see not with our eyes, but with our VISION” – led her to a remarkably productive career that ended in 2004. In Prague, some of her series, such as 100 Moon, Red and Blue, Language, Aluminum metal and Red Sun, will be on display.Sooyeon Lee specializes in designing unique, creative accessories – neckties, scarves and wallets – for top business executives as part of corporate branding. Her clients include Samsung, Cheil Communications, Siemens, Korean Air, Hyundai and Air Canada. For the Prague exhibition, she has created a special tie and scarf inspired by Geri Taper’s art. She will also be presenting more traditional Korean artwork, patterns and the Korean alphabet applied to a number of fabrics.